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Eastland judicial museum appeals to history

Austin McCloud, the retired Chief Justice of the 11th Court of Appeals, sits in the courtroom of the museum bearing his name Wednesday Nov. 29, 2017. The Austin McCloud Appellate Court Museum is located in Eastland and officially opened on June 30.(Photo: Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News)Buy Photo

EASTLAND – It’s not every day that you get to meet a man while standing in a museum named after him. But the Austin McCloud Appellate Court Museum has been a long-time coming.

“We started on it probably about seven years ago,” said Sherry Williamson, the museum’s curator. She also is the clerk for the 11th Court of Appeals, for which McCloud was chief justice from 1971-1995. The court covers 28 counties, from Mineral Wells to Texas border with New Mexico.

You can find the 11th Court in the Eastland County Courthouse, alongside offices for the 91st Judicial District and the other county officials. The museum is located on the west side of the square, across the street from the Connellee Hotel & Civic Center. It is open from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

If you’re a longtime reader of this column, you know I’m a fan of museums. I’ve written about car museums, tractor museums, art museums, historical museums and even a train museum.

But an appellate museum? It’s definitely a first for me.

“We wanted to honor Judge McCloud, he just has had such a legendary law career,” Williamson said. “Also, to inform the public about the Appellate Court System.”

Williamson worked with the judge from 1976 until his retirement. Recalling some of the strange cases my dad used to tell me about when he was an attorney, I asked her what stood out in her memory about McCloud’s time.

“Do you want me to call him?” she asked. “He just lives two blocks away.”

Uh, sure.

While we waited, Williamson pointed out the panels on the first floor that illustrate the role of the court and the judge’s life. Other displays cover the history of the court, as well as historic legal cases from Eastland County’s past.

“When you have a case in trial court, whether it's civil or criminal, and you're not happy with that decision, you can appeal it,” Williamson explained. “Then it will come up to the intermediate level of courts, there are 14 courts of appeals in the state of Texas.”

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The Austin McCloud Appellate Court Museum is located at 101 S. Lamar Street in Eastland and officially opened on June 30.(Photo: Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News)

Anyone who has watched Perry Mason or "Law and Order" on television knows what a trial looks like. The appellate court doesn’t look anything like it.

“When it does come to (our court), they usually do not have oral arguments in them. The judges screen the cases to see if oral arguments will help, but otherwise It's just submitted on the briefs,” Williamson said. “We don't have a court reporter like they do on the trial level.”

Shortly, Judge McCloud walked in, smiling and wearing a ball cap.

“He’s 88 years old,” Williamson said.

“Well, 88 and two-thirds,” McCloud quipped.

We made our way to the elevator and all three of us rode to the second floor. The main feature up there is the small courtroom that has been recreated.

“We actually have held court in here. We did when we first completed it,” Williamson said. “I'm very proud of it, I think it's just so gorgeous.”

That was Nov. 10, 2011, about two years after they’d started the restoration. The museum allows the court to use the courtroom for emergencies or ceremonial purposes.

The installation of the courtroom brings the building’s history to a full circle. Originally built in 1875, C.U. Connellee’s retail store occupied the first floor, while the second floor he gave to the county for housing the district court.

In this modern courtroom, three high-backed leather chairs embossed with a seal on the headrest sit on a dais behind an imposing judicial bench. Windows surround three sides, their wooden shutters ,when open, providing a postcard view of the square.

We made a few pictures in the courtroom, and then went back downstairs.

“I am extremely honored to have a museum named after me,” McCloud said.

Earlier, Williamson described his reaction when the museum was dedicated June 30.

“He's a very humble person, and when he came in he said, ‘Wow, this is a lot of me,’” she said, chuckling. “I'm not quite sure he knew exactly what to expect.”

One of the panels describes a case in which he ruled and has since been cited at least 85 times in subsequent trials. It occurred in 1997, after his official retirement but while he continued service as a senior justice for the court.

In the case, oil and salt water had contaminated an acre of land in a 100-acre agricultural tract. The landowners sued the drilling company for damages and had been awarded more than a half-million dollars to restore this acre to its condition prior to contamination.

“His damages to one acre was six-times more valuable than the whole 100 acres that it was on,” McCloud said.

The decision was reversed, with the judge ruling that the proposed repairs were not “economically feasible.” The proper amount was instead determined to be the loss in fair-market value of the affected property.

“The Appellate Court is basically looking at the trial court, both civil and criminal. One of the parties at that level lost, and they will usually appeal,” McCloud said. “It's based on case law. It has to be a lawful reason to appeal, if we found an error then we would overrule and send it back.”

There’s an important distinction here, an error must be found for the appellate court to send it back. Simply disagreeing with an outcome isn’t enough, that disagreement must be rooted in finding a mistake in the trial court’s judgement or nothing will change. In the case of contaminated land, the court found the jury’s decision to be the error.

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The first floor of the Austin McCloud Appellate Court Museum in Eastland Wednesday Nov. 29, 2017. The first floor contains information panels and interactive displays, while the second floor features a courtroom.(Photo: Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News)

After the appellate level, cases can be appealed to either the state Supreme Court for civil cases, or the Court of Criminal Appeals for criminal cases.

“But in 95 percent of the cases, that doesn't happen,” McCloud said. “They affirm what the 14 appellate courts decide.”